
Author 



Title 



Imprint. 



16— »7372-2 o 



THE 

ANTI-GALLICAN SENTINEL, 

BY 

DON ANTONIO CAPMANY. 



BEBICATEB TO ALL NATIONS* 



TRANSLATED FROM THE SPANISH, 

BY A GENTLEMAN OF THIS CITY. 



NEW-YORK; 
PRINTED FOR EZRA SARGEANT 




1809. 



3V 



Ifr 



;<e 



AD VEB. TISEMENT. 

This valuable little work was originally written 
in Spanish, by a worthy patriot, Don Antonio cle 
Capmany, to awaken the energies of his country- 
men, and to unite them in the glorious cause of 
their independence against the tyrannical usurper of 
Europe. It was written for Spaniards, but it well de- 
serves the particular attention of all nations, as it is 
truly a Sentinel, who, watching their liberties, now 
sounds the alarm on the approach of the enemy, 
and points out to them the deceitful arts he makes 
use of, in his attack against their political existence, 
and the direful consequences of trusting to his words 
and promises. Americans ! read it with attention, 
and learn that your security depends more on a 
perfect knowledge of his wily politics, and a firm 
determination not to be deceived by them, than oti 
the distance which separates you, at present from his 
infernal grasp. 



THE 



ANTI-GALLICAN SENTINEL. 



This is not the time for a man who can brandish 
his lance, to stand inactive with folded arms ; 
nor for him who possesses the gift of speech, to 
remain mute, when by using it, he can both in- 
struct and animate his countrymen. Our pre- 
cious liberty is threatened, our country is in danger, 
and calls aloud for defence. Let us all from this 
day be soldiers ; some with the sword and others 
with the pen. The day has come, when the 
th robbings of our hearts Gan be distinctly heard. 
Happy am I that I have arrived at that time of 
life, in which every good man and every virtu- 
ous citizen, uninfluenced by the hope of fortune 
and unshaken by the fear of death, should re- 
main constant to himself, and faithful to his con- 
science. Of me, what would my country say ? 
What would my silence augur in the minds of 
good men and of bad men ? That I should now 
change ! That I, who, for so many years, have 
never taken up my pen nor employed my zeal 
but for the honor and glory of my country, that 
I should now lie torpid, without a sign of life or 
animation ! and this at the very moment, when 



6 

the enemy of Europe threatens us with slavery, 
and revolves in his mind our destruction ! To 
arms, to arms, and may the blessing of God await 
the noble design of so holy an undertaking. 

Considering the variety of publications, in 
prose and verse, issued both within and without 
the court, since the retreat of the French troops, 
what title could I give to my work, without re- 
peating some of those already used at this epoch, 
when the public mind was alleviating itself from 
the burden which oppressed it ? Recollecting, 
however, that among our pamphlets, there is one 
entitled, Sentinel against Jews, I thought it a 
proper title to apply to that against the French- 
men of the present day, whose religious senti- 
ments are worse than those of the Jews, and their 
actions more cruel than savages, from the time 
that they have permitted the impious and atroci- 
ous Napoleon to conduct their regeneration. 
Prostration at his vile feet, is by them esteemed 
honor, happiness, and glory ; and gratifies in no 
small degree their vanity and national pride. At 
liis feet they adore his execrable name with fear 
and trembling, and kiss with the most profound 
respect, the imperial chains, with which his im- 
perial majesty has gradually bound them into an 
imperial fraternity. Their late republic and for- 
mer Christianity he has banished from their 
minds, and formed the great family of select 
slaves, who at present compose the French em- 
pire. Their august Emperor has remained free ; 
the abortive offspring of a smaii island, the be- 
nign disposition of whose inhabitants has become 



a proverb : they give no pardon until enclosed in 
the arms of death. 

Although the office of Sentinel may now ap- 
pear unseasonable among my countrymen, who 
by fatal experience have been undeceived with 
respect to the depraved intentions of the atrocious 
Corsican, who under the guise of an intimate al- 
ly, had drained completely our resources, and 
under that of protector, now wished to deprive 
us of what little still remained to us ; it will not 
be useless, nor untimely to prepare ourselves 
against any fear or distrust, which the power of 
his arms, the fame of his past victories, and the 
decrees of his vengeance, might infuse into pusil- 
lanimous minds. It will not be improper to ex- 
clude every hope of peace or amnesty, proposed 
by his perfidious policy, and supported by his in- 
timate counsellors, whose iniquity equals that of 
their master; for never has H. I. and R. majesty 
been known to err in the choice of his ministers, 
nor in that of his faithful generals, who execute 
his odious precepts not only as good servants, but 
as faithful slaves. 

I well foresaw, some years back, upon consi- 
deration of the system pursued by this fortunate 
usurper, in the course of his conquests, that Spain 
would not be the last object of his insatiable am- 
bition ; that sooner or later he would invade her, 
and would attempt this as soon as he had put to 
death the other crowned heads, in order to invest 
himself with the title of "King of kings ;" a 
name assumed by the vain and proud Tygranes, 
when dazzled by the resplendency of his own 



power. But I confess that I was mistaken, and 
that I lost the game, although with a good hand, 
by supposing that he would suspend his invasion, 
through the fear of losing the dominions of the 
two Americas ; particularly as that would stop 
up the channel, through which, the gold and sil- 
ver of the new world could alone flow into 
France, during a general peace ; and through 
which, its rich productions could be sent in return 
for European manufactures. 

But at length his natural impatience, his mis- 
taken confidence, and the ignorance of his wise 
counsellors, who breathe no other air than that 
which he permits them, hurried him on to the 
consummation of his wicked project, which, as 
soon as he was freed from enemies on the conti- 
nent, he hastened ; after having enjoyed, as 
if it had been an estate of his own, the resources 
of our treasury, under the sanction of that fatal 
and disgraceful treaty of perpetual alliance, which 
our ignorant and timid Godoy, concluded and 
signed with the mercenary Directory, many years 
previous to his turning traitor to his country. 
The evils, misfortunes, and calamities which we 
have and do still suffer, are dated from that im- 
prudent and ignominious act, the prelude to the 
wisdom and diplomatic sagacity of the bright 
Prince of Peace. The helm of this great mon- 
archy was committed to his inexperienced and 
unpropitious hand ; and there it remained until 
he himself wrecked both vessel and crew, and at 
the same time sunk them to the bottom. 

By that violent treaty, Spain remained for ever 



the slave and tributary of France. From that 
time, this monarchy has been politically sub- 
dued, and has ever 'been treated as such by the 
government of France. Her ambassadors flat- 
tered us upon their first arrival, next threatened 
us, and finally took their leave ; after being loaded 
with treasures and with presents, and rich in the 
knowledge of our miseries, created by the igno- 
rance and weakness of our government. This 
was deposited with absolute power in the torpid 
arms of that dissolute body guard, who only 
opened them day or night, to enfold again the 
charms of beauty prostituted to the lust of a 
christened Ottoman, who sold, for such costly 
sacrifices, the favors, the honors, and the offices 
of the state. As the Corsican, whilst consul, and 
afterwards, whilst emperor, was unwilling that 
one alone should imlk the cow, he changed his 
messengers very frequently, sending others with 
new instructions and more insolent pretensions. 
Thus he divided among many the fruits of his 
interested missions, and each one carried home 
to his beloved France, a part of the substance of 
the despised Spain. 

In consequence of that infamous treaty, we 
have twice been obliged to make war with Eng- 
land, suffering at each time incalculable losses 
in our commerce, our navigation, our navy, and 
our manufactures : interrupting our communica- 
tion with the Indies, the patrimony of the Span- 
ish empire, and separating the brothers of this 
Peninsula from those of that hemisphere, after 

B 



10 

having inherited for three centuries the language, 
the laws, the honor, and the religion of Spain. 

By that infamous treaty we had to arm and 
maintain auxiliary squadrons, to lose them in 
every engagement, in which, by the orders of the 
most wise Napoleon, we were to combine our 
maritime forces with the French, or to protect his 
extravagant naval projects, in which fortune was 
less propitious to him than on land. His treach- 
ery could there have no effect. To assist our 
intimate friend and ally, our navy has in six 
years been destroyed with the loss of eight three 
deckers, twenty-six ships of the line, and as ma- 
ny frigates ; our arsenals have been annihilated, 
millions sacrificed, and the lives of upwards of 
20,000 sailors thrown away. We shudder at the 
very name of Trafalgar ; the ignorance, petu- 
lance, and impatience of the French, supported 
by the inconsiderate and irresolute Godoy, forced 
us to engage in that fatal action. Bonaparte in- 
cessantly pressed the departure of the great expe- 
dition ; not to fight, but to carry our vessels to 
Toulon : from the very moment they left Cadiz 
they no longer belonged to Spain, nor were they 
to return thither. Oh ! that the sea could swal- 
low them, or fire consume them, if so many 
thousands of souls could be saved, rather than 
that our forces should augment those of the ty- 
rant, who was afterwards to attempt our subju- 
gation. In short, if it were possible for us to shut 
our hearts against grief and compassion, we gain- 
ed on that fatal day, a victory over Napoleon 
who could not succeed in his perfidious plan of 



11 

getting quiet possession of our vessels, of receiv- 
ing our crews safe within his ports, and defray- 
ing with our treasury the immense expenses of 
maintaining them. This was a fresh leech, suck- 
ing up the blood of our nation and which was to 
fatten the Great Bandit of Europe. 

In consequence of that infamous treaty, Na- 
poleon extorted from us in money the subsidy of 
troops, since at the annual rate of twelve millions 
of dollars, he found it more to his advantage to 
be paid in money than in provisions. He de- 
manded of us those remittances, with a tone of 
authority, like that of sovereigns towards their 
subjects, and threatened us with conquest upon 
the least delay. His pride, however, increasing 
with his power, and our timidity with our weak- 
ness, he took' from us our money, provisions, and 
squadrons. 

In consequence of that shameful treaty, Godoy 
attacked on the one side by the British govern- 
ment, who would not permit the dragon of 
France to fatten upon our millions, and threaten- 
ed on the other side with the anger of that dra- 
gon in case of disobedience ; instead of denying 
him with firmness, and calling to arms one hun- 
dred thousand Spaniards, none of whom would 
have been carried to the north, as they afterwards 
were, and relying upon the forces of England 
who would have made common cause with us ; 
he preferred quarrelling with the English cabi- 
net, and even proceeded so far as to have boasted 
to the minister, who then resided in Madrid, that 
he would send to Napoleon sixty thousand Spa- 



niards to assist in the invasion of England. What 
incalculable misfortunes this first diplomatic con- 
tention showered upon us ! In the first three 
months of the war, the nation lost in vessels, car- 
goes, and money, upwards of forty millions of 
dollars. 

But I will be told, how is it, that Godoy, who 
was the instrument of our ruin, even before he 
became a traitor ; who was provoking war, and 
could not but see that an open rupture was at 
hand ; who could not but perceive the danger of 
war on the ocean, how is it that he did not send 
advices in time and with secrecy, to America to 
the Canaries to meet our return ships, with or- 
ders to suspend all navigation and avoid so much 
ruin ? But what could we expect from that idiot, 
who took no counsel but from his own ignorance, 
and who in three quarters of an hour, half stand- 
ing, half sitting, his segar in one hand, and 
pinching some beauty, to whom he was devoted, 
with the other, dispatched the immensity of bu- 
siness of the two worlds, some by word of mouth 
like an oracle, and some by short and obscure 
decrees like a tyrant ? 

A few days before this precipitated rupture 
with the British minister, which degenerated into 
personal disputes and insults, this favorite, had he 
not been destitute of sense, and devoid of judg- 
ment, could have delivered Spain for ever from 
the heavy yoke of that ruinous treaty, which he 
himself permitted our necks to receive from the 
French government, as much our friends then as 
they are now. See with what uprightness of in- 



IS 

tention their articles are worded, as laconic as 
they are ambiguous, the better to conceal the 
malice and deceit of their contexture, under a 
studied brevity and apparent simplicity of clauses, 
drawn out and dictated at Paris, the same as our 
late wise constitution : without having given us 
in either case any other trouble than that of 
translating and signing them. Oh France ! 
when Pagan, when Christian, when a monarchy, 
when a republic, both enlightened and barbarous; 
both free and enslaved, thou art always the sys- 
tematic enemy of Spain ! And you Spaniards, ever 
honorable and noble, you are always deceived ! 

Magnanimous sons of this noble land, the 
hour has now arrived when you must be regene- 
rated by your own hands, and not by those of the 
impious despot, who came here to rob you of 
your liberty. The hour has now arrived, when 
you can shake off the burden which crushed you, 
by making war upon the great Napoleon : great 
in pride, great in perfidy, and great in cruelty. 
War alone could break the base and galling 
chains which held you bound. 

By war we shall avenge at once, the many in- 
sults we have suffered for twenty years in suc- 
cession, and the evils which had depressed us, 
and nearly sunk our nation. Napoleon saw that 
this fate was nigh at hand, as he himself informs 
lis in his proclamations, that we might give to 
him thanks for his bad news, and his consolation. 
In fact, nobody could know our misery better 
than he who had caused it: thus let him keep 
for his own subjects the remedy which his innate 



14 

beneficence, and notorious compassion had pre- 
pared for us. How many of us would he alrea- 
dy have destined to clean the boots of his brutal 
cuirassiers, or light the pipes of his impure and 
insolent Mamelukes. 

War will open to us our ports, which have 
been shut for three years, in obedience to the 
barbarous and impolitic decrees of the enraged 
Napoleon, who had turned into a gloomy desert, 
all the harbors and sea-coasts of Europe, in order 
to blockade and starve England, according to his 
boasting decree ; whilst he left every sea both 
known and unknown, open to her commerce and 
subject to her power. How profound, how wise 
a politician ! How nice a calculator : to take 
out both his eyes, that he might deprive his ene- 
my of one ! Lest the enemy should enter into his 
house, shut up the doors, and remain locked in, 
without being able to receive succor from without, 
though deprived of subsistence himself, his friends 
and allies. To this dreadful extreme he had redu- 
ced us, without being our sovereign. That upon 
the coasts of usurped France, he should order the 
ports and gates to be shut, in the same manner as 
he had already ordered the obedient slaves of his 
despotism to shut their mouths ; this was no more 
than using his supreme authority, derived from 
their consent. But to exercise it in Spain, oblig- 
ing us by a hasty decree dated at Varsovia, to 
perish through hunger and misery, without any 
communication, either directly or indirectly, 
with any of the other nations of the world, re- 
quires an uncommon degree of insolence and 



15 

pride, in him to attempt it, and implies in our 
miserable government, dishonored by the insen- 
sibility of Charles, and the inability of his proud- 
purled favorite, an humiliation and a degree of 
patience, still more uncommon, to tolerate and 
obey it. 

War will renew to us our former commerce 
and intercourse with England, joyous to be re- 
conciled with us, knowing as she does, that we, 
having become the sport of the caprice of a 
monster, took no part either in the war, or in 
peace: desirous also of receiving our produce 
from either hemisphere, our productions of na- 
ture and art our wool, our friendship, and our 
frank and generous treatment, so congenial to their 
own. We, relying on their power and assistance, 
and she, upon our valor, constancy, and union, 
we will form a natural and strong alliance, fo- 
ment a common vengeance, and swear an eter- 
nal hatred against the common enemy of the 
continent, against that debased and dishonored 
France, enslaved, impoverished, and wasted, by 
an adventurous tyrant, who has converted her in- 
habitants into armed robbers, the natural enemies 
of mankind. 

War will restore to us our navigation, refit our 
shattered navy, repair our declining manufac- 
tures, enliven our decayed industry, and restore 
to us our traffic by sea and land. An end will 
be put to the smuggling through the Pyrenees, 
by converting our Peninsula into an island : we 
will no longer see so many pale-faced mantua- 
makers and pedlars, who infected our cities, like 



10 

swarms of locusts. Our dear neighbors will no 
longer import to us any of their superb manufac- 
tures, no longer run in tobacco in their cannons 
and howitzers, in the covered waggons and among 
the equipage of their indecent generals, smug- 
glers upon their entrance, and robbers upon their 
departure from Spain. 

This war, terrible but salutary, the instrument 
of our eternal prosperity, will prevent the further 
innoculation of their impious philosophy among 
us, and stop the further progress of the corruption 
of morals, exhaling from their poisonous books, 
which have done so much damage to our youth, 
transforming both men and women into mimics 
of their language, their ideas, and their fictitious, 
theatrical morality ; for among Frenchmen every- 
thing is a farce, beginning with virtue. That set 
of people whom we call wise and enlightened, 
were all natives of Spain, but the hearts of a 
great part of them were in France, that is, ena- 
mored with their books, they had married their 
authors ; and how could that marriage produce 
defenders of their countries which they never 
loved ? We will treat as friends with the Moors, 
who neither hate nor despise us, and preserve to 
us inviolate, a confidence unknown to the infa- 
mous government of France. They will supply 
us with wheat, poultry, and cattle, if we want it, 
and furnish us with horses for war. They will 
not come to deprive us of the bread which they 
have to excess, nor of wine which they do not 
drink, but will send us dates, honey, and wax, 
instead of bullets, gall and flames given to us by 
the most Christian French. 



if 

]§y this war we Will receive the produce and 
treasures of America, Which have been detained 
for four years ; We will again plough the ocean, 
opening the communication between the two In- 
dies, and renewing our maritime intercourse, of 
which the barbarous Napoleon has deprived us, 
since the time that he chained us to the car, of his 
fatal and barren glory. 

This war will make us true Spaniards again ; 
that is, we will again be brave, again serious and 
sedate. We will have a country, we will love it, 
and defend it, without requiring that the tyranni- 
cal protector of the confederation of the Rhine, 
extend to us his protection. We will recover 
Our former customs, those which rendered us in- 
vincible by arms, or foreign policy. We will 
Sing our own songs, dance our own dances, and 
dress in our ancient style. Those who call them- 
selves gentlemen, will ride noble spirited horses, 
instead of playing the piano, and representing 
sentimal dramas at their own houses, after the 
manner of the French We will again speak the 
pure language of our ancestors, which already 
began to be corrupted in the midst of such great 
richness, patched up with French jargon. Our 
language will again become fashionable, when 
the genius and abilities of the Spaniards produce 
works Worthy of posterity, and when morality and 
policy, whose jurisdiction we are going to estab- 
lish, appear in the Spanish dress and language. 

By this war, we will regain, not some transma- 
rine possessions, which would occasion fresh 

c 



IS 

wars ; but what is more glorious and valuable, 
our name, that name formerly so much respec- 
ted, both by civilized and barbarous nations. We 
will recover our former physical and moral 
strength, which forms the political power of go- 
vernments, and we will increase it by new funda- 
mental laws, founded upon firm and eternal ba- 
ses. We will give the example of wisdom to the 
other nations of Europe, as we now do of fortitude 
and valor, in the recovery of our lost liberty. In 
this heroic enterprise we have the honor of being 
the first who have attempted it. Let the nations 
of the enslaved continent learn the art of break- 
ing the galling chains, which they suffer. We 
will teach them how to conquer, or how to die 
rather than be conquered. 

By this war, we will clear our calendar of the 
filthy names of the reigning families of Napo- 
leon, and of his crowned satellites. We will re- 
cover the liberty of publishing our Court Gazette 
of our own materials, or at our own will, and not 
dictated at the pleasure of the French ambassa- 
dors, who tied the hands of the composer, in all 
articles concerning the political and military 
news, of the rest of the world ; the lying Moni- 
teur and Publiciste of Paris vyere servilely to be 
copied, being the only papers which were per- 
mitted to be read, or from which extracts might 
be taken. This strict subordination, not to say 
slavery, our government was for some years obli- 
ged to suffer, and forced to keep the nation de- 
ceived and in error, ignorant of the political state 
of Europe, of those actions, which disfigured the 



19 

public prints of France, and of those which the 
same prints concealed ; mentioning nothing but 
with the permission and in conformity with the 
orders of their government. 

By this war, the only safety of our country, 
we will be freed from the dreadful danger of per- 
ishing with hunger, to increase our misfortunes, 
if heaven had not favored us with an abundant har- 
vest, the last and present year. For the decrees 
of the barbarous and furious enemy of England, 
had shut our ports against every banner, before he 
attempted to subdue us by arms. In case of ne- 
cessity, we could hope for assistance neither from 
Turks nor Christians, owing to the reprisals and 
indignation of England. How dreadful was the 
prospect, which presented itself to my imagination 
when to increase the more my fears, I saw legions 
of devils or of Frenchmen, coming in to devour 
our substance ! 

What would already have become of us, if the 
scarcity and misery of the year 1804- had been 
repeated, when we were charged with the addi- 
tional weight of our sparing and compassionate 
guests, from whose tables we might, like dogs, 
have begged a crust of bread? For nine months, 
before any sign of hostility, the two provinces of 
Castile were burthened with them, at the daily 
rate of 200,000lbs. of bread, 5000 bushels of bar- 
ley, 70 tons of straw, and 100,000lbs. of beef. 
To this must be added the waste, occasioned by 
the violence of their arbitrary exactions. 

This war will prevent our having any others, as 



w 

for the two last centuries, they have all been either 
for or against France. As her territory lies he* 
tween ours and the other nations of Europe, we 
will not be able to embrace them as brothers, but 
we will extend to them our hands, by means of 
the maritime ports, that the Spanish flag shall visit: 
through these channels we will communicate to 
them our efforts, our example and our eternal 
friendship, against the common tyrant, the scan- 
dal of the earth. 

This war will free us from the vexation and dis- 
gust of listening to a tiresome crowd of preswmpr 
tiQus egotists, of philosophers, moralists and poli- 
ticians, all at once ; who, without injury to those 
which might afterwards come, were introducing 
among us, central and elementary schools,, institutiss 
and establishments of beneficence, new names in- 
stead of the old Spanish ones, houses of benevo- 
lence, piety or charity. Their object was to form 
our minds and hearts after the modern French. 
They had already introduced among us, as a 
mistery of the second redemption of the human 
race, a certain ioacchan,ical regeneration of youth 
under the immediate protection of the puerile, 
frivolous, vain and whimsical generalissimo of sea 
and land : who, not satisfied with having debauch- 
ed every male and female, who had any thing to 
expect from his favor, wished at last that the mo- 
thers should make fools of themselves and ma- 
chines of their children. It was necessary that 
they should have sticks and cards in order to 
think and rule, and masters to jump like moun- 



21 

fain goats, or climb like monkeys. How just 
was the observation of a poor woman upon hear- 
ing of these exercises and accomplishments ; 
" This appears to me, to be a school for thieves." 
To flatter his highness the protector, the parents 
looked upon themselves as happy, if they could 
secceed in committing their tender children, to 
this bedlam of madmen, whence they would 
come out, stupid, foolish, and distempered. And 
shall we after this be surprised, that the ancient 
Carthaginians, sacrificed so many children to the 
idol Moloch to appease him ! But here our idol 
became tired of holocausts, the same as they were 
wearied of every thing, and sent off our altar and 
dispatched our sacrificers. We only wanted that 
another set of philanthropists should set up an 
amphitheatre of cranealogy, that the female sex, 
at court might have motives for philosophizing 
or prattling. 

In short, by this war, we will become better 
Christians. Accustomed in adversity to lift up 
our eyes to heaven to implore its favor, and in 
prosperity to return to him thanks, true piety 
will take root, will grow and will flourish, and 
will be matured in our children. 

Spaniards of all sexes, ages, and conditions, 
I speak to you all. Do not think that in this 
most holy war, we are working for our children 
or our grandchildren. It interests us still more 
intimately. We are fighting for ourselves and 
for our own existence. Know, that Napoleon 
hurries on so fast in military exploits, that he 
may leave nothing for his successors to do ; 



and it appears that he labors to enjoy, during life, 
the incense of posthumous fame. Let us quickly 
cut the wings of the eagle. 

This war differs materially from any we have 
hitherto sustained, either at home or abroad, in 
its nature, its object, its cause, and its conse- 
quences. In its origin it is defensive ; and thus 
it depends not upon our desires, nor can our 
arms effect its continuance : its nature demands 
more vigilance and constancy, and a great de- 
gree of severity against the negligent, the waver- 
ing, or the suspicious. We must conquer or live 
in slavery. In the war of the succession with 
which Spain was afflicted, the question was not to 
defend either our country, our religion, our laws, 
our constitution, our property, or our lives, 
since none of these was endangered by the con- 
test. The only dispute was, which of the two 
pretenders to the crown of Spain should remain 
in posession of it: under the supposition that it 
could not but devolve upon one of the two ; the 
male line of the reigning family being extinct. 
The nation was divided into two parties, as there 
were two rivals ; but no one was unfaithful to the 
nation in general, nor the enemy of his country. 
They called one another traitors and rebels, with- 
out either being so in reality. They all were* 
and wished to be Spaniards, as much those who 
acclaimed Charles of Austria, as those who sup- 
ported Philip of Bourbon. It was a family dis- 
pute between two most noble princes, either of 
whom was worthy to occupy the throne of Spain. 
The nation lost neither its honor, its indepen- 



23 

dence nor its liberty with one or the other of 
them. The crown changed property, but the 
monarchy remained unhurt. The question now 
is, to lose the whole at the hands of an infamous 
conqueror, who having robbed us of our legiti- 
mate sovereign, deprives us of the right and the 
use of national sovereignty. The' Romans in 
their civil wars, defended the republic, not against 
a tyrant, nor a foreign power, intending to im- 
pose upon them the yoke of their arms and their 
laws, but against some of their own citizens, who 
aspired to raise themselves to the government. 
The first might be disgraceful, the second might 
be a misfortune. Civil war might be an internal 
evil, the public liberty might be lost, but the Ro- 
man people could not be conquered by another 
power. Sylla and Marius, Cesar and Pompey 
were Romans, they were companions and war- 
riors. Cromwell, an Englishman, ruled over 
Englishmen, but he did not come from without to 
subdue them. Robespierre, a Frenchman, ruled 
and tyrannized over the French nation ; and Bo- 
naparte, a French general, usurped the supreme 
command, without invading the territory of the 
republic with foreign armies. It would be more 
tolerable and less ignominious, that the vain Go- 
doy should have raised himself to the monarchy, 
by the assistance of our troops, gained over or de- 
ceived by him, than that a foreigner assisted by 
the troops of another power, should come to sub- 
due a monarchy of no less importance, than the 
glorious Spanish nation . The thoughts of it alone 
insult and confound me. 



24 

We have already seen the demeanor, disposi- 
tions and conduct of the troops and generals* 
whom the false Napoleon has sent to subject us. 
They are worse than barbarians by birth, posses- 
sing all the vices and malice of a civilized nation* 
but destitute of the candor of savages. 

I would look upon the Moors as less to be fear- 
ed and less odious ; for they neither dissemble 
what they are, nor feign what they are not. 
They believe in God, and in eternal glory and 
punishment. Some moral virtue can be expec- 
ted from them. They would raise their mosques, 
and would leave to us our temples and religious 
exercises ; they would take from us our bells, 
not through avarice, but through religion : we 
would pay our tributes, and they would not pre- 
vent our praying to the Lord ; neither would they 
give us the impious example of incredulity. I 
repeat it, that I would rather be conquered by 
Moors than by Frenchmen ; for it is less mortify- 
ing to suffer hatred than contempt. When the 
Africans landed into Spain, they entered as 
enemies, as conquerors, as propagators of the 
Alkoran. They deceived us neither with pre- 
tences nor with professions of friendship or pro- 
tection. They broke no compact nor alliance, 
as none existed between us ; they were not want- 
ing in their word, as they had not offered it: 
they took us unawares, but did not deceive us. 
In addition to this, the invasion of the Moors was 
effected by water, and their passage across being 
once cut off by our naval forces, their hopes of 
reinforcements from Africa were entirely baffled. 



26 

Even in this situation, it took seven hundred years 
to expel them finally from our country. Let 
us now consider, when would Spain be able to 
free herself from these unbelieving conquerors, 
whilst their communication with their mother 
country remained open, and upon the same 
continent ? 

On the other hand, it appears that Napoleon's 
supply of soldiers will be inexhaustible, until Eu- 
rope shall break off all communication with him. 
We are perfectly aware, that his armies are not 
composed of Frenchmen alone, but consist also of 
the troops of those sovereigns, who are so fortunate 
as to be his allies, or in other words, his feudato- 
ries or slaves. They are also composed of the 
conscripts of the states and republics of Italy, 
whose impotency and weakness have induced him 
to incorporate them in the territory of the French 
empire, now extending to the limits of the Ot- 
toman empire. In his armies, the military sys- 
tem, the tactics, and the language in which or- 
ders are issued, alone are French. The systema- 
tic rapacity with which they plunder, their inhu- 
man violence and the impiety of their sentiments 
are truly French. 

There is little reason to expect, as long ex- 
perience can establish, that a Frenchman will be- 
come weary of the fatigues and dangers of the 
campaign. Take him from home in tears, and 
he will return singing, and throwing out mena- 
ces. Neither can we hope that the justice of 
our cause will unbend him : war appears to be 

D 



26 

his element, it inspires him in battle. At one 
time he exposes his life for the crown, at ano- 
ther against it ; to-day in the cause of liberty, to- 
morrow in the cause of despotism. He goes to 
war like the horse ; he is encouraged by the 
trumpet, and mounted by a Christian trooper, 
flies against the Turk : the horseman is dismoun- 
ted, the Turk jumps upon him, and he starts with 
his new rider against the Christian. Among the 
chiefs the case is different : yesterday they eat 
with wooden spoons, and to-day are dissatisfied 
with the service of plate, which their landlord 
lays before them. Yesterday they were so low, 
that they could not be distinguished in the dust, 
and to-day are raised upon the shoulders of for- 
tune to the summit of honors, and to the orien- 
tal pomp of riches, the fruit of the rapines and 
extortions, which cry out to heaven for ven- 
geance. 

Ask the French why they endured the first 
acts of the absolute despotism of Bonaparte ; they 
will answer, that tired of shedding the blood of 
their children, their brothers, and their relations, 
they suffered every thing rather than to be in- 
volved in the horrors of another revolution. 
Whilst they plead this dread, with a contradic- 
tion truly characteristic of the French, they de- 
liver up these same children, these same bro- 
thers and relations, that a million of youth may 
be sacrificed at a distance from their country ; 
not for the glory nor the defence of their nation, 
which is not attacked, but to satiate the fierce 
ambition of an adventurous islander, who first 



27 

subjected France, that he afterwards might sub- 
due other kingdoms. 

I am not now undeceived for the first time : 
long since I prognosticated the fatal consequen- 
ces, which our country might one day experi- 
ence from the iniquity of this crafty tyrant. For 
many years I have been a silent sentinel ; I saw 
into the malignity and hypocrisy of his designs, 
from the first peace of Campo Formio, when, 
after having turned the republic of Venice into a 
democracy, he delivered her up to the emperor 
of Austria, at the very time that their proclama- 
tions called all the Kings of the earth, Despots 
and Tyrants. From that time I doubted the mo- 
deration and the simplicity of his democracy. 
This new general served the republic, that he 
might afterwards subdue her with greater facility. 
With this intention he remained in Italy, con- 
verting it into miniature republics, deceiving and 
robbing its inhabitants, and paying men of ta- 
lents to run from one city to another, like so many 
apostles of liberty. I still recollect the pathetic 
harangue which one Monge delivered before the 
little pacific republic of St. Marino. The great 
calamities which his hypocritical heart might oc- 
casion to those whom he had seduced, began 
then to be feared, and since then have been veri- 
fied with grief and terror. Where he planted 
with so much ceremony the tree of liberty, he 
has since erected gibbets to the memory of his 
paternal kindness. Do you give thanks to him 
for the felicity and tranquillity, which you now 
enjoy, you Piedmontese, Genoese, Milanese, 



28 

Venitians, Bolognese, and Parmesans, since he 
has even deprived you of your name, in order 
to confound you in the great herd of his sub- 
jects. 

The precipitate and ill-judged peace which 
we concluded with the French republic in 1795, 
gave to this intrepid adventurer, the command of 
the French troops in Catalonia, which he was to 
lead to the invasion of Italy. Here was the first 
theatre of his talents, here his first military tri- 
umphs were atchieved. They may in some 
measure be attributed to the disposition of the 
minds of those people, and to the unwillingness 
of the troops to sacrifice themselves against a 
cause, which flattered so much at first, those who 
reasoned upon it, and those who were in suffer- 
ing- 
Burning with impatience and despairing to be 

able to consummate his ambitious plans, he sets 
out for Egypt, without any object in view, or any 
motive for his voyage ; he takes Malta with the 
noise of a dozen broad sides ; and owing to a 
plan of treason, concerted with the French 
knights, he leaves that island and city, which 
under the order was impregnable, and exposes it 
to be afterwards taken by his enemies the English. 
He arrives at Alexandria, and loses his squadron ; 
he goes up to Cairo, bathes in the Nile, visits the 
pyramids, makes somegenuflexionsin the mosque, 
and returns to Europe, perfectly scourged, in order 
afterwards to become her executioner. 

With the modesty of a Roman he proclaims 
himself Consul at Paris, because the title of King 



29 

or of Dictator would at that time have been de- 
testable. But who conferred upon him this new 
authority ? In the first place it was the bayonets 
of his colleagues, and then a constitution draugh- 
ted by himself, and drawn out and signed by a 
dozen of his associates. To call himself First 
Consul, when three were invested with this 
ridiculous title, was calling himself in fact the 
only one ; the other two being nothing more 
than assistants. Under the pretext of treason and 
conspiracies, he establishes his consulship for life ; 
again under the pretext of others he renders it 
perpetual and hereditary. 

With gigantic steps he was advancing towards 
a more pompous and more elevated title ; one 
which might confer upon him greater power, 
more vanity, and a better right to his ambition. 
He wished to possess the control of Europe, and 
convert her into a patrimony of the empire of 
France. With the title of Consul alone, he could 
not attempt it, since it did not extend without 
the territory of the republic. Vain and perish- 
able name ! Still preserved by a nation, which 
soon after, called herseh 'great ; and which now 
is a great herd of wild beasts, kept by Napoleon 
the First. With the title of Emperor he conquer- 
ed France and her dependencies : he invaded 
and struck terror into every state, that could op- 
pose him ; and using the more moderate, but 
prouder name of Protector, he subdued those 
nations, which he found it inconvenient to re- 
duce with the former title. Under this cloak H. 
T. M. protects other Royal Majesties, and Ducal 



Highnesses, who have the honor of being his 
prime vassals. An aid-de-camp of his high con- 
stable Savary may one day call them to Paris, to 
put on his spurs and hold his stirrup on a day of 
parade. 

The same power that conferred upon him the 
consulship made him likewise emperor. Every 
one knows how he planned this violent, illegal 
and pretended election. He called himself then, 
and still calls himself emperor of the French, and 
not of France. What can be the object of this 
name, for all his words contain some mistery ? 
Can it be to flatter the vanity of his new subjects, 
who he knows can be easily deceived by appear- 
ances. Can it be, that under this name he wish- 
es to rule in all those countries through which 
his numerous and roving troops are dispersed and 
extended ; for there is no territory in Europe, 
which is not defiled with the footsteps of his sol- 
diers ? And almost every nation of Europe con- 
taining some armed Frenchmen, who have the 
command of their towns, Napoleon becomes in 
fact the emperor of them all. 

Spain and Portugal alone were wanting to the 
number of happy countries comprehended with- 
in the imaginary and unlimited circuit of the 
French empire. Napoleon, to whom the world 
already appears too small (though he might be 
thrust into a mouse-hole,) could not suffer that 
the west should still remain free and independent, 
and not acknowledge him as Lord. He sent 
troops; they entered into Spain, and as they ne- 
ver travel for nothing, they first take possession 



31 

of one kingdom and then of another, without 
either declaring war or even threatening hostili- 
ties. They are actuated alone by that principle 
of new-established right ; that wherever French 
soldiers put their foot, their emperor must com- 
mand. 

The whole world knows, and can yet scarcely 
believe the iniquity and violence, with which this 
emperor, without either honor or conscience, 
seized upon Portugal. His perfidy and baseness, 
in the usurpation of the crown of Spain, are still 
more incredible. Without having put his foot 
in the country, he makes it over, like a paternal 
inheritance, to his beloved brother Joseph, under 
the feigned title of King : since, in fact, he was 
but vice-king, receiving his troops without the 
power of ordering a sargeant, his laws without 
daring to alter them, his orders without daring 
to disobey them, and his instructions without 
the power of interpreting them. Madrid would 
be the ostensible court, Paris would be the me- 
tropolis. There would be the ambassadors be- 
tween the two courts, since etiquette demand 
it. The French one, would be an overseer 
and a zealot in our cabinet, and a boatswain 
over the people ; the Spanish, an assistant at the 
imperial throne, and as a great mark of distinc- 
tion would have the honor of attending on pa- 
rade, with his hat in his hand, during the sun- 
shine and rain. Public treaties would be made, 
which would rather be the secrets between the 
Emperor of Spain in Paris, and the Vice-King of 
Spain in Madrid. It is easy to infer, that the 



32 

Sultan would dictate to Beglier-Bey, and that we 
would take no other part, in all these diplomatic 
arrangements, than to translate them into Spa- 
nish. 

After having seized upon Spain in a military 
manner, and delivered up to his brother the royal 
lieutenancy, it is not to be supposed that he would 
leave him intrusted to the fidelity of the Spa- 
niards, as much suspected, as they had been in- 
jured. As much for his personal safety as for the 
tranquillity of the people, so necessary to him, 
and above all, to preserve our ports and coasts 
against the invasions of England, so much decried 
the common enemy ; he was willing to protect us 
with two hundred thousand men, to be left with- 
in our Peninsula in cantonments and garrisons, 
maintained, clothed and fed by new contribu- 
tions : this could be done without breaking any 
article of our constitution, because it contained 
none relating thereto. For this reason the great 
Amurat consoled us in an article in one of his 
Madrid papers, saying, that we should neither 
pay the fifths, nor raise levies in any of our pro- 
vinces. This is evident, for we were to have no 
national army, according to the arrangements for 
security made by the conqueror. 

As in this undertaking and plan of the Empe- 
ror and King, the very Christian-like and charit- 
able plan of uniting the two nations was intend- 
ed ; it is to be presumed that there would have 
been reserved, at least, a military road from Bay- 
onne to Lisbon, cutting ofT a strip, like the ox 
hide of Strabo, of more than five or six leagues in 



33 

breadth, for his troops to pass and re-pass. In 
Poland he reserves to himself one of the same 
kind, for his communication with Saxony, where 
he has another crowned Vice-King. 

By this simple and convenient arrangement, 
and owing to the necessity of continual reinforce- 
ments of his troops for our defence, he did not 
break the promise he had given, of preserving 
the indivisibility of this monarchy, and maintain- 
ing its independence. It is true, he did not dis- 
member any province, nor cut off any part either 
of our coast or frontier, to incorporate with the 
French territory, or cede to any other sovereign; 
but he might easily reserve to himself, as a sort 
of provisional deposit and security, fortresses, 
posts, and mountains, and still keep up in ap- 
pearance that indivisibility. By maintaining also 
his armies here, in the quality of auxiliaries, he 
left the word independence in its natural significa- 
tion. But whose independence was meant by 
that ; was it of the crown or of the subjects ? 

If the two nations were united, it would but be 
just, that as France sent to us her warlike youth 
for our protection, we should return her the fa- 
vor, by putting ours at the disposal of her Empe- 
ror, and thus repay her example of generosity. 
The only disadvantage in these exchanges would 
be, that fortune having given to the Spaniards a 
benign climate, and a country fertile in bread, 
wine, oil, and delicious fruits, this union would 
be their destruction ; that is, they would go to 
perish under the wings of the imperial eagles, 

E 



34 

or perhaps waste away their lives in some coun- 
try, where they would neither eat bread, taste 
wine, nor see the face of the sun for eight months 
during the year. This is the most cruel and bar- 
barous of tyrannies. 

History does not afford an instance of any 
conqueror's having compelled his captives to arm 
themselves, and forced them to fight against his 
enemies. It is infinitely better to give no quar- 
ters to such invaders, or die sword in hand, rather 
than afterwards use it in the service of so unmer- 
ciful a conqueror. 

The Turks alone chain their Christian prison- 
ers to the oar, but they do not force them to bear 
arms. Neither did the Saracens, who over-ran 
Spain, carry off the vanquished to make them 
fight in any of the wars, which they waged, 
either within or without our peninsula. Bona- 
parte either sells the prisoners of war, makes them 
serve under his banners, destines them to the 
public works as if they were bought slaves, or 
leaves them to perish with hunger and misery. 
It is not his custom to permit, that those unfor- 
tunate persons, who fall alive into his hands, 
should become a charge to him. This was the 
case when the laws of nations^ were known and 
regarded ; but this ferocious tyrant has put an 
end to every law, and wishes to annihilate all 
nations. 

Execrable prodigy of nature ! Amphibious 
between man and beast, Napoleon has rescued 
Caligula and Nero from infamy. Excess of pow- 
er corrupted the latter, and yet he was six years 



35 

breaking through the laws of decency and hu- 
manity. So long did it take for the goodness of 
his disposition and education to be perverted. 
But Napoleon, it seems, was bad before he had 
learned to be so, before he could be so, and even 
before he wished to be so. Engendered by 
Chaos, he conceals from us his father : he is the 
child of his own works alone. Oh Letitia !* 
what joy you announced to the world, on the 
day of your prodigious delivery ! Before usurp- 
ing the supreme command, he was a despot, and 
before a despot, he alreadywas a tyrant. 

He was born for the destruction of the human 
race. He saw that he had nails ; he immediate- 
ly assayed them for destruction, as the tyger does 
from a whelp. No human effort can tame him. 
He is not a domestic animal, he soon flies to 
the mountain and to the forest, he cannot live 
among people. He seeks the field of battle as 
the haunt of his ferocity, for the palace was not 
built for him. The field is his delight, and a re- 
gale to him ; the smoke of powder is to him in- 
cense ; the sight of dead bodies recreation ; he 
sleeps upon mattresses of dead bodies ; and we 
shall one day hear, that he eats human flesh, 
since he has not yet stopped in his career of bar- 
barous pastimes. This inhuman wretch pro- 
claimed to Europe, and was believed by the stu- 
pid Frenchmen, that in war he was seeking 
peace. I believe, that when he no longer has, 
with whom to make war, he then will have 
peace, except with himself. Then wretched he ! 

* The mother of Bonaparte was called Letitia. 



36 

Idleness would consume him. How would he 
pass his time, with one hand over the other ? 
He has but one passion, and that drowns all 
others. He wishes to rule over the earth, even 
should he remain in it alone: he then will beg 
wings from the devil, and fly up to conquer the 
moon. 

Some wise men have said, that life is very- 
short, considering what man has to learn ; but I 
add that it is very long for what we have to suf- 
fer. What would become of us, if the life of 
this tyrant were not subject to the common fate 
of mortality ? From his children the world will 
have nothing to fear. Nature has already taken 
care that all monsters should be unfruitful. 

He acknowledges no curb to his perfidy and 
cruelty : he neither has any religion to restrain 
him, a conscience to accuse him, nor a shame to 
make him blush ; the hatred of nations does not 
terrify him, as he wants not their good opinion, 
since, in his eyes, they no longer exist. He will 
say to himself, since 1 can get all I will have all. 
He reckons upon fortune, as Caesar did ; but Bo- 
naparte takes better care of his life than Caesar. 
Among the other favors which he owes to for- 
tune, is the health which he enjoys ; in a suffi- 
cient degree to deprive the whole world of its 
quiet. He lives sickly, yet is never sick ; and 
thus the sobriety which in another would be a 
virtue, is in him necessity or constitution. 

They say that he eats fast : a property of 
wolves and of foxes. They say also that he 
sleeps but little, I do not doubt it ; it is the tor- 



37 

merit of all tyrants, to see at all hours a sword 
suspended above their heads, threatening them 
every moment with destruction. The same hap- 
pens with misers, who in general are early risers ; 
for they are ever on the watch against thieves, 
and fly from their own shadow. 

He can love no country, nor no nation ; they 
all belong to him, and none is his own. Where- 
ever he can find soldiers, that is his country. If 
he were expelled to-morrow from France, to pre- 
serve his command, he would go with his army, 
if he could, to Morocco. Did he not go to Egypt, 
to proclaim himself Sovereign, and to swear up- 
on the Alcoran, so as not to subject himself to the 
Directory ? He neither has a determined coun- 
try, or religion ; he makes use of any which can 
answer his ends. 

He has the impudence to call himself Emperor 
by the grace otGod, whom he neither loves, fears, 
nor acknowledges : he would do better to say, by 
the patience of God and of men. He gave himself 
his title, and put, with his own hands, the impe- 
rial crown on his head. He has made himself 
what he is, and how sorry he must be, that he 
cannot make himself a corpulent Nembrot, to 
frighten with his figure, and strike dead, when he 
should get angry, three ministers one day, three 
senators another, and three generals a third. 
His Imperial and Royal Majesty, they say, some- 
times rages like a wild boar, and the roughness 
of his words and his voice well declare his mild- 
ness and amiability. 



His device is an eagle, when it should be a 
tyger ; and the eagle is so poorly represented, 
that it appears more like a kite darting upon its 
prey, than like a noble and generous bird. It is 
a proper symbol of the rapacity of his mischiev- 
ous heart. He changes his first name and then 
his sirname ; and the new name he afterwards 
converts into an eternal sirname for his most au- 
gust family, and his relations in the transverse, 
diagonal, and adopted lines ; with the design of 
making Napoleons of all the crowned heads, 
which he intends to leave, or spawn upon the 
face of the earth. 

This hero, so called by his vile and mercenary 
editors, (as he could not become a man) adds fe- 
rocity to vanity. As he can never be contented 
nor satiated with decorations and titles, to-mor- 
row he will call himself Napoleon-Kan, a Tartar 
name, which he has for a long time merited. 
Augustus Casar is a name which is very well 
known, and much handled by students. Pha- 
raoh and Nebuchadnezzar sound like holy writ. 
Sultan and Caliph savour of the Arabic, and 
he preserves against those people a certain resent- 
ment for some joke in Egypt. Let him call 
himself at once King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, 
and let this be the last blasphemy of his ambition 
and arrogance. The title, which his actions most 
justly entitle him to, is the scourge of God, which 
nobody can dispute with him, and which he de- 
serves more than the atrocious Attila. 

I have said it, and I now repeat it, that the 



39 

three terrible epochs in the annals of the world 
are, the deluge, the birth of Mahomet, and the 
birth of Bonaparte. The former pretended to 
convert all religions into one, and the latter all 
nations, that he might be at the head of it. The 
former preached the unity of God with the cy- 
meter, and the latter does not name him either as 
containing one or three persons ; but only preach- 
es or causes to be preached his own divinity, per- 
mitting himself to be called all-powerful, by his 
infamous and sacrilegious adorers, the French pe- 
riodical editors. He at length thinks that he is so, 
and the cowardice and meanness of those nations, 
who have permitted him to subdue them has made 
him believe it. Spain alone has forced him to 
see and acknowledge to himself, that he was before 
and is now but a man, and a very little man, 
whom blind fortune has made great in the eyes of 
nations, terror-struck by the dread of his name, 
who reckon the greatness of power by the mea- 
sure of atrocities. 

A stone falling from a neighboring mountain, 
knocked down the colossal statue of Nebuchad- 
nezzar : it struck against the feet, where it was 
weakest. It is worthy of remark, that the only 
persons who have hitherto taken down the pride 
of the wisdom and power of this military hero, 
are precisely those whom he most despised, or 
whom he feared the least : a man at St. Jean 
D'Acre, who appeared more like a monk than a 
soldier ; the barbarous and undisciplined Mame- 
lukes ; the rustic and brutal Cossacks ; and the 
timid, lazy, and superstitious Spaniards, whom the 



40 

French intrepidity and confidence, thought to be 
asleep. Europe sees it, and can scarcely believe 
it : our enemies thought that we were asleep, and 
it was they who were themselves dreaming it. 

This is a kind of warfare, new to his victorious 
tactics : it is a domestic war, it is a national war, 
it is a religious war, and finally, it is a war of men 
who were brave before they were soldiers. In 
Italy and Germany at the summons of a trumpet, 
the most respectable fortresses of Europe surren- 
dered, as in Jericho, without having the walls de- 
stroyed. At all their posts and military encamp- 
ments, they surrendered themselves prisoners, six 
thousand men in one place, ten thousand at ano- 
ther, fifteen thousand at another, and at Ulm 
thirty thousand. What I say of the Austrians, I 
say also of the Prussians. Bonaparte dispatched 
in eight days the whole Prussian army consisting 
of 200,000 infantry and 40,000 cavalry ; and be- 
fore the end of a month, there neither existed a 
King of Prussia, nor a Prussian monarchy. Most 
astonishing and unheard of catastrophe, the cause 
of which it is not difficult to conceive : they were 
disaffected, they were cowards and traitors : 
there was an army, but there was no nation. 
Within Spain, those same troops, and victorious 
generals, cannot take open towns, defended by 
women and peasants badly armed, and only half 
clothed ! 

Let us at once be undeceived : all the fortres- 
ses have been taken, like Pampelona, Barcelona, 
and the citadel of Figueras, by bribes, or by trea- 
son. Thus fell Magdeburgh, Spandau, Stetin, &c. 



41 

This is again the caprice of fortune, which is not 
yet tired of Napoleon. He does not know such 
a thing as a traitor, who would make him lose in 
one day, the fruit of a whole campaign. Even 
the slaves serve him with the strictest fidelity. 
Whilst the republic had so many domestic ene- 
mies, so many traitors, so many emigrants, and so 
many deserters from the patriotic standards, des- 
potic tyranny has no reason to doubt the fidelity 
of its subjects ! We could well perceive, that the 
emigrants, who found so much charity and so 
generous an hospitality among us, did not see that 
this was the hour to return to France, to recon- 
cile themselves with the new tyranny ; the na- 
tion, to whose distracted bosom they were return- 
ing, not being the same as that which they had 
before abandoned. 

I do not only speak as to the armies ; but nei- 
ther in the cities nor in the political govern- 
ments, has he suffered, nor does he fear the at- 
tempts, or even the intentions of a traitor. Even 
the strangers, whom he has dragged from their 
houses in irons, serve at his will and caprice. 
There is no longer in France, either a madman, 
a drunkard, a furious man, nor a fanatic, like 
those, who in other times sent four of their legiti- 
mate kings into the other world. Atrocious 
deeds, which the history of no other country 
mentions. 

For eight years past, he has been promising 
peace to the French, and every day he departs 
more from the ways which lead to it. Notwith- 

F 



42. 

standing this, he is not ashamed to permit him- 
self to be flattered with the renown of Pacifier of 
the continent, and Arbiter of Europe. This last 
title flatters him the most. For one whole year 
he kept his new subjects, whom he did not then 
dare to call by this name, engaged and in un- 
certainty with respect to the plan of his invasion 
of England. He knew the difficulty and empti- 
ness of the project, but he wished to entertain the 
people, that they might neither have the time, 
the opportunity, nor a motive for plotting against 
his person and his consular despotism. It was 
Paris and France that he wished to subdue ; he 
succeeded, and secured from that moment, his 
usurped and tottering throne, from whence he was 
afterwards to rise to imperial sway. 

Never was there a man, who promised more, 
and who has fulfilled less than Napoleon. He 
has not yet complied with his promise of engra- 
ving in letters of massive gold, the names of those 
brave men, who fell at Austerlitz, Jena, and 
Eyland. He probably did not think at that time, 
that the list of the killed would be so great ; or 
perhaps has found out since, that those who had 
received favors would not complain. Consider- 
ing the anxiety and voracity with which his 
troops and generals threw their sacrilegious hands 
upon our treasures, we must imagine, that as he 
supposed all the gold, collected from his mines 
besides that collected by rapine, insufficient for 
so great an expense, he expected to make up a 
sufficient sum, by despoiling the temples of Spain 
and Portugal. , 



43 

How could you expect, too kind and generous 
Spaniards, that they who treated with so much 
cruelty, the inoffensive and pacific Portuguese, 
who had not even fired a musket against their 
unjust invaders, would use more pity towards 
you if you surrendered, or more clemency, if you 
resisted ? This example of his inhumanity, prac- 
tised at the very doors of your houses, and his 
former cruelties in Italy and Germany, and other 
countries subject to the perfidy and violence of 
his arms, could not take from before your eyes, 
nor banish from your memory, the fate which 
awaited you. 

Persons, undoubtedly, were not wanting, who 
blindly and credulously believed, even after the 
French troops had, by stratagem and surprise, 
taken possession of the fortresses on our frontier, 
that they were coming in peace and friendship. 
As to the former, 1 do not doubt it, because they 
wished to subdue us, without conquering us : to 
hope the latter from the common enemy of all 
nations is an absurdity. It was a still greater ab- 
surdity to believe, that the armies were going to 
the field of Gibraltar. Bonaparte thought as 
much upon the siege of that place, as the Sophi 
of Persia did : and was it for this that he inun- 
dated us with 150,000 men, besides 30,000 of 
our troops whom he could count upon as auxili- 
aries ? Was it for this purpose, that he brought 
so great a train of field artillery, and so numer- 
ous and chosen a cavalry : preparations for scout- 
ing armies, and not for besiegers ? 



44 

The idea of these forces being directed against 
Africa, is no less extravagant ; but for what pur- 
pose r Against whom ? With what transports, 
or when would they have been able to effect the 
passage of the Strait, without one ship or one 
frigate, in sight of the English squadrons, which 
would have given, as food to the fishes, every 
madman who embarked ? Spain was the Africa, 
and we the Africans. 

When we saw the military stations which they 
took in Castile, the hostile motion of their canton- 
ments, their subsequent inaction, and the provi- 
sion of biscuit, which they made among their 
friends and allies, as they called us, and in the 
granary of Spain, which supplied them with 
fresh bread, could we for a moment doubt that 
they came disposed for a war, both offensive and 
defensive, since their preparations were equal to 
their precautions ? It is true, they neither put 
the men to death, nor violated the women ; nei- 
ther plundered nor profaned the temples : but 
this was because it was not then their interest to 
irritate the people, but to impose upon them. 

Some even believed, a little before Murat en- 
tered into Madrid, that the citadels on our fron- 
tier had been delivered up, as a deposit, to ensure 
the good treatment of the friends, who came to 
our assistance. The most artless and the most 
prejudiced, immediately perceived that treason 
had opened our doors to robbers. The infamy 
was too manifest for the minds to be at rest. Un- 
happy Spain ! What nation has ever been so 



Ad 

unfortunate, as that the shepherd himself should 
kill the dogs, and let the wolf safe into the sheep- 
fold I 

Take courage, and trust in God, you people 
of Barcelona ! Genius and valor will bring am- 
ple assistance to you, and deliver you from the 
bitter oppression, which you suffer. Your case, 
certainly, is singular and most lamentable : future 
ages will wonder at it. Your restoration and the 
preservation of that beautiful city, now prostituted 
by the impure feet of those base soldiers of the 
treacherous Napoleon, is a duty of the brave and 
valiant Spaniards, and claims the assistance of our 
generous allies. 

Every reflecting Spaniard, instructed by the 
political events, which have happened in Europe 
since the year 1800, ought to have known, from 
the line of conduct pursued by Napoleon, what 
we had to fear from his designs, when his armies 
were extending through our provinces. I fore- 
saw the storm at a distance. The conduct of 
those spurious Spaniards, Izquierdo, and Herbas, 
who were enamored with France, and possessed 
estates there, showed that the country which gave 
them their being, their riches, and their honors, 
was become to them a place of dangerous resi- 
dence. 

Moreover it was lately fashionable in Paris, 
to learn the Spanish language, to wish to be in- 
formed with respect to our literature, and the 
state of our sciences : the editors of the periodi- 
cal papers solicited a correspondence with the 
wise men of our country. I also observed, that 



46 

they no longer despised us, nor threw out against 
us, as they formerly were accustomed to do, the 
epithets of ignorant and superstitious. This sud- 
den and uncommon moderation and courtesy, 
was in my mind a most certain proof of their new 
policy ; for the writers in France always act at 
present with the advice of its rulers. 

For some years back, they have bought our 
books ; a thing before unknown, as the book- 
sellers of Madrid can testify. They began aiso 
to translate into their language, some of our au- 
thors ; a custom which had been lost during the 
first years of the reign of Louis XIV. I also 
observed that some French travellers came to 
visit us, who showed great curiosity about every 
thing of ours : some as physical economists, and 
others as lovers of the noble arts : some came to 
measure degrees of the meridian, and perhaps 
were exploring our mountains, and our rough 
roads : others to seek out our mines of metals ; 
some to study the keeping of our Marino sheep, 
and others the raising and breed of our horses : 
whilst others examined our public establishments, 
our libraries, our museums, the collections of our 
famous painters, and the remains of the Roman 
and Arabic antiquities. They sought for infor- 
mation, and took notes and copies with so much 
eagerness, that they seemed rather to be making 
inventories, than satisfying their curiosity. 

I also observed, that the first few days after the 
arrival of Murat at Madrid, some of his military 
and civil officers bought up all the Spanish and 
French dictionaries and grammars that could be 



47 

found in our book-stores. The officers of the 
revenue particularly bought geographical maps, 
and inquired for statistic plans. What greater 
love or friendship could be wished from our 
neighbors, who would not leave a corner of our 
house, nor a piece of furniture, without visiting 
it with inexpressible satisfaction ? I remarked 
that even men, whose appearance proved that 
they did not want to be instructed in these branch- 
es, asked for statements of our manufactures, or as 
they called them, des tableaux des manufactures. 

This is very good, said some of the Spaniards 
at that time ; very bad rather, said I, who did 
not ascribe to any affection, so much interest dis- 
guised under the veil of curiosity. Every one 
must know that Bonaparte has sworn in his irrevo- 
cable decrees, the extermination of the reigning 
branches of the Bourbon family. Thus he be- 
gan with Naples, Parma, and Etruria, and has 
gone on with Portugal. Knowing this, how 
could we hope that Spain, the principal branch of 
the family, should be free from this ruin, nor that 
he could think of preserving it by ingrafting it 
with a shoot, which he was stripping completely I 
I confess, however, that between hope and 
doubts, I was led to believe, that he might possi- 
bly put it into execution, since it was the only 
means of preventing the loss of the Americas. 

On the other hand, I saw the strange anxiety, 
evinced by a Frenchman to obtain the editing of 
our Court Gazette, offering an annual indemnifi- 
cation to the royal printing office. It appeared 
to be a mercantile speculation of some individu- 



48 

als, and it was nothing less than a plan, contrived 
with great policy, by the French government, 
cloaked under the appearance of a private con- 
cern. But the solicitude of the ambassador 
Beauharnois, and his official letters in favour of 
the agents of this undertaking, and of the intro- 
duction of a new periodical paper, entitled, La 
Abeja Espanola, published at Paris, plainly disco- 
vered the true designs of this hypocritical ambas- 
sador, a most faithful executor and co-operator in 
the perfidious and malicious designs of his august 
master and brother-in-law, the Emperor. This 
part he has fulfilled, from the day he entered 
Madrid like an indecent vagabond, until that in 
which, after having just fitted up a new house 
with great pomp, and oriental splendor, he sud- 
denly disappeared like a villain, who has just 
committed a crime. In fact, he had now con- 
cluded his last commission. 

Were not all these acts preludes to the ap- 
proach of that hour, when we would be deprived 
of the faculty of speech, and of the liberty of 
writing; and when, to aggravate our misfortunes, 
they would leave us nothing but the power of re- 
flecting on them. This happened as soon as 
Murat entered into Madrid. In a few days he 
takes possession of our Gazette, and of the daily 
paper, and puts it in the hands of some of bis hun- 
gry satellites, half learned, and half military men, 
who were to pocket the profits, and distribute a 
small recompense among some renegade Spa- 
niards, who assisted them, partly in secret, and 
partly with barefaced effrontery, in so patriotic a 



49 

work. The whole of them have already disap- 
peared, pronouncing themselves their sentence 
and the punishment of their crime, by their 
flight from court to the French army. It is to 
be lamented that some hundreds more did not 
go with them. The author of La Abeja has 
also fled. He had returned to his country, under 
the protection and safe-guard of its enemies : he 
was another of those emissaries who came here 
to preach up to us, the felicity which awaited us, 
and with which we were unacquainted, and the 
flight which Spanish genius would wing, when 
protected by the tutelary Genius of France. 

The unhappy lot, which I saw falling to the 
other nations of Europe since the year 1 805, made 
me anticipate my fears about the fate which 
threatened Spain. Even the countenances of the 
French pedlars, who walked our streets, and fre- 
quented our coffee-houses, proclaimed their joy 
in the hopes of some good fortune. Some em- 
phatic words which they threw out, between pity 
and admiration, announced to me, one or even 
two years before the French troops entered, that 
we were destined as an inheritance to them. 

In suspicion, caution, and malice, the lame 
ex-bishop and Prince of Benevento, (called in the 
present age Talleyrand) the right hand of Napo- 
leon, has gained no advantage over me ; neither 
have I been deceived by the mysterious artifices 
of those cunning oracles of the French diploma- 
cy, those intimate advisers of the perfidy of the 
imperial Fox, He deigns to speak to them, and 



60 

consults them at pleasure or through necessity : 
but who could hear me, when withdrawn to my 
study, and keeping secret what there engaged my 
attention ? Who dare question me, during the 
reign of the universal governor of this monarchy ? 
Nobody opened his lips in his presence, not even 
those whose duty it was to assist at his office, and 
who could advise him, what was proper for the 
honor and preservation of the crown. All others 
were only permitted to breathe, very moderately, 
the air of his anti-chambers or his stables : and 
their only duty was to applaud with humble and 
reverential laughter, the jests of His Excellency, 
and the insolence of His Highness. His remarks 
were looked upon as the proverbs of Solomon, by 
those insects, to whom he had granted the privi- 
lege of seeing him in small clothes, or whose 
adulation he had already bought with offices, or 
expectations, which were the most that some re- 
ceived. 

When I could no longer doubt the fatal des- 
tiny which was approaching us, and that the in- 
activity and unskilfulness of this ignorant and 
fickle-minded favorite, were accelerating our 
ruin, I had the patriotic freedom to send the two 
letters, which shall here be inserted, in order to 
restrain his habit of writing proclamations, in 
which he wished to show to the present and fu- 
ture generations, how great was his popular elo- 
quence. A specimen of them, among many 
previous ones, is that ridiculous, foolish and im- 
politic proclamation, which he issued in his 
name to the nation, in order to inflame and call 



Si 

her to the field of Mars, without telling her who 
was the true or the supposed enemy. Learn 
readers, that Napoleon was the true enemy, and 
that we were just entering into the coalition of 
the north. But the battle of Jena made him re- 
pent, and he remained ill with every body. In 
order to expiate the design of that imprudent and 
untimely proclamation, he was forced to consent 
to the cruel sacrifice of those 20,000 men, whom 
the service of Napoleon sent to the north, as 
hostages of our future submission. This was the 
beginning of that blow which he aimed at our 
military forces, that we might not be able to op- 
pose any invasion. For this reason, though at 
Varsovia, he pressed the quick departure of our 
troops, with so much earnestness and even with 
threats. 

I had already foreseen what would happen, 
and frequently said among my friends, Godoy, 
as his line of conduct fully proves, aspires to the 
regency, or to the crown, and he calculates upon 
the assistance of Napoleon, who by his example 
has inspired him with such lofty designs. The 
Corsican, I added, keeps him up in his ambitious 
plan, and after having permitted him to plunge 
himself into an abyss of attempts, and to annihi- 
late the power of the nation, he will kick him 
away, and proclaim himself our liberator ; for 
this is the most barefaced and quiet mode of con- 
quering. I now ask, whether those blind and in- 
fatuated Spaniards, who celebrated the victories 
of Napoleon in the north, or related them with 
heart-felt satisfaction, knew that each one was a 



m 

pitched battle against Spain ? Undoubtedly they 
did not ; and it is this brutal ignorance, which 
must nowkeepthemin confusion and repentance: 
but if they did, they deserve that their country 
should know them, and deliver them up to public 
vengeance. Since then, I have looked at his 
successes through a telescopical glass, and have 
clearly seen, what others would not or could not 
discern. The French thought that because we 
were dumb, we were also deaf and blind. 

In the midst of these fears and presages, which 
crowded around my anguished heart, I had the 
grief and mortification to see posted up in hand- 
bills, and published in our papers, Napoleon's 
Code — Life of Napoleon — Catechism of Napoleon, 
translated into Spanish, and sold by retail. Shame- 
ful to our nation ! I saw, and was ashamed to 
see, the book-stores and print-shops, with their 
doors and walls defiled with portraits of Napoleon, 
of all sizes, some illuminated, and others not. I 
saw there crowds of idiots, some in riding coats, 
some with wigs and others with crowns, who 
were admiring and gazing with their mouths 
wide open, when they should have looked with 
horror, at the image of the hero, who was soon 
to send to us 100,000 bayonets, and '20,000 cut- 
lasses, that we might enjoy a happiness, with 
which we were unacquainted, and which we 
have already begun to taste. And what w T as all 
this, but gradually familiarizing us, with the 
sight of this tyrant, and acquiring a certain love 
for him from our very admiration ? Did not these 
demonstrations call him, in a manner to us, and 



65 

acclaim him in weak and corrupt hearts ? The 
translators, reviewers, printers, book-sellers, en- 
gravers, and purchasers have greatly offended 
their country. In that street, which was the 
principal theatre of such scandalous scenes, 
a funeral pile should be raised, where those exe- 
crable monuments of our weakness or treachery 
should publicly be burnt. 

To return to that epoch of my fears and pre- 
sages, of which I have spoken above, the first 
letter I then sent to the generalissimo Godoy 
was the following — " Sir, if your excellency 
should think, that in the present circumstances 
my zeal and my person can be of any utility, I 
cheerfully place both at your disposal, and offer 
every assistance in the power of a good Spaniard 
and a faithful subject. I have a country and I 
love her : not with my tongue as is the case with 
many, but with my whole heart. If my years do 
not permit me to handle my sword, the pen has 
not yet fallen from my hands. I offer to my king 
and country as much as 1 ought, for I offer all I 
can, and to your excellency profound veneration 
and obedience. May God preserve the important 
life of your excellency many years. — Madrid 8th 
November, 1806." 

I know that my offer and zeal did not displease 
him. The latter however could not remain 
satisfied, with this passive approbation, which 
I was able to wrest from him. Four days after 
I wrote him another letter, which, although it 
might not awaken him from his lethargy, might 
inform him what he could still do with us, before 



u 

We were sacrificed like the other nations of Eu- 
rope. It was as follows : — " Sir, my love for 
my country, not being satisfied with the small 
offer I made Your Excellency, and being cer- 
tain that whatever sentiment the spirit which an- 
ni mates me may breathe, it cannot offend one, 
who knows the goodness of my intentions ; I 
take the liberty of suggesting to the comprehen- 
sive mind of Your Excellency a few ideas, the 
offspring of my ardent wish, that Spaniards may 
recover their former sentiments and character, 
which they have been unfortunately losing, for 
some years back. They are disgracing that re- 
putation which their ancestors knew how to 
maintain in peace and war, and which rendered 
them respectable among foreign nations and 
among enemies. 

u It is not the physical strength of the body 
alone, but also the moral strength of the mind, 
which constitutes the strength of a nation. Force 
of arms, and dexterity in managing them, are 
not sufficient to constitute the power of a mon- 
archy, if courage, confidence and spirit are want- 
ing in those who are to defend it ; and if those 
who are to contribute to the means of its defence 
are deficient in zeal and good will. 

" Character governs all men ; and this I see 
is nearly extinguished among my countrymen, 
who appear to have forgotten their noble origin, 
the greatness of their country, and the glory of 
her ancient exploits, since they have lost their 
own customs, usages, habits, dress, language, and 
even their prejudices, which sometimes assist 



85 

very much in conquering an enemy, or at least, 
prevent themselves from being conquered. Men 
are always in want of an idol, to which they may 
sacrifice their repose, their fortunes and even 
their blood. Formerly, religion gave rise to pro- 
digies of valor : the name of Spaniards, inflamed 
and animated warriors, because it rendered them 
vain ; and the recollection of country y infused a 
desire of preserving her into the minds of the no- 
ble, the peasant, and the clergyman. But now, 
that with the inundation of French books, cus- 
toms, and fashions, that severity of the Spaniards 
has become effeminate ; their manners have un- 
dergone a great change, and produced a kind of 
aversion to the mode of life of their fathers ; now, 
that we read neither our histories, our comedies, 
nor our songs, but look upon them all as bar- 
barous and ignorant ; now that it is fashionable, 
stylish, and good breeding to admire every thing 
which comes beyond the Pyrenees, and affectedly 
to forget whatever resembles our own land, and 
even to despise what nature has given us with so 
bountiful a hand ; now, I say, we have no other 
means of making ourselves respectable and pow- 
erful but by inspiring the people with confi- 
dence, and those of high rank with shame at 
their degradation. Of what consequence would 
it be to a king to have subjects, if he had no na- 
tion ? A nation is formed, not by the number of 
individuals, but by the union of the wills, the 
conformity of laws, customs, and language, which 
maintain and keep them together, from genera- 
tion to generation. For this reason, upon which 



56 

few have reflected, T preached so often in all my 
writings and conversations, against those who as- 
sist by their example and practice, in every thing 
they say, write, and translate, in annihilating our 
language : my object was rather political than 
grammatical. Wherever there is no nation, there 
is no native country. Italy and Germany fully 
prove that, at this very time. If the Italians 
and the Germans, who are divided and distressed 
with so many different interests, customs and go- 
vernments, had formed one people, they would 
neither have been invaded nor dismembered. 
They are great regions described and marked down 
on the map ; but they are not nations, although 
they speak the same language. The universal cry 
of Germans ! Italians ! does not inflame the mind 
of any individual, for none of them belongs to a 
whole body. Man ought to regulate his con- 
duct by the precepts of the bible ; but nations 
by the laws of self-preservation. There is no 
friendship between them : reciprocal hatred 
keeps them without fearing or envying one ano- 
ther, and gives rise to emulation, the mother of 
great actions. Any nation which is in love with 
another, is already half conquered, leaving little 
to be done in an invasion to force of arms. 

" The French armies are possibly indebted in a 
great measure, to this fatal disposition of their 
enemies for their rapid triumphs. If the sense of 
character is weakened, it must be enlivened by 
means directly opposite to those, which brought it 
to a state of decline. The poets, who hitherto 
have only dedicated themselves to singing love 



51 

songs and victories in heroic and lyric composi- 
tions, might exercise their talent in popular 
poems, which might awaken notions of honour, 
courage and patriotism, by relating the exploits 
of our brave captains and soldiers in the two 
worlds, at one time against the Indians, and 
at another against the enemies of Spain in 
Africa, Italy, and Flanders, for history teems 
with their heroic deeds. . With these songs re- 
peated in our dances, entertainments and thea- 
tres, a delicious treat would be given to the people, 
until their present indolence would be shaken off, 
and they would entirely lay aside their former 
collection of dances and songs — The bull feasts 
might also contribute towards maintaining this 
national spirit, and in our present circumstances I 
would be glad they were not abolished. As I 
have always looked upon this public amusement, 
as originating in Spain, only exercised among 
Spaniards, and inimitable in foreign kingdoms, I 
formerly wrote an apology in its favour, against 
the Spaniards of the new school, beings, who are 
now dead to their country. " I prefer this Spanish 
ferocity as it is called, which can make us be 
feared, to that philosophical effeminacy and friv- 
olity of the present day, which has rendered us 
despicable in the eyes of those very persons, who 
have ingrafted it in us. With this motive, and in 
order that your Excellency may see what I 
thought at that time, in what I said or rather fore- 
told, I take the liberty of including to you the 
three newspapers in which, I six years ago, gave 
my opinion, anonimously, lest I should be stoned 

H 



' . 5S 

to death by people of taste. I beseech your Ex- 
cellency to pardon my boldness and my errors, 
if such can be called, the overflowings of a sound 
and patriotic heart, which earnestly wishes for the 
glory and happiness of your Excellency ; whose 
important life, I pray God may preserve many 
years. — Madrid, Pith Nov. 1806." 

I know that he also read this letter, and very 
attentively, upon his return from the walk ; but 
without ever having produced any effect. I 
wished to copy in this place these two monu- 
ments of my patriotic zeal and my foresight, 
concerning the state of political infirmity, in which 
my country was, and which could not now be cured 
by the exhortations nor the sermons of an idiot, 
who was himself the cause of his approaching 
misfortunes, and whose person was detested even 
by those who were indebted to him for their 
fortunes. What must have been the tribulation 
of my unquiet mind, disturbed by such fatal pre- 
sages, when others could only see straight before 
them, and were not deprived of their rest by the 
triumphs of Napoleoq ! Oh ! happy souls, who 
slept at your ease, until the trumpet of Murat 
called you to judgment ! But it was my mis- 
fortune to suffer before I could feel, and to un- 
dergo death before I died. 

Oh ! unwary Spaniards ! I believe that you 
have not yet feared as much as you reasonably 
might, from the iniquitous^ heart of Bonaparte, 
\vere he become the master of Spain. You fore- 
saw these revolutions^ contributions, conscrip- 
tions, the abolition of your laws, the ruin of 



59 

your holy religion, the loss of the Americas, &c. 
&c. But were you sure, that, he would not put 
Spain upon the same footing with the other na- 
tions, which he governs, mediately or immedi- 
ately ? Were you sure, that taking organized 
France for his model, he would not divide you 
into departments, districts, prefect-ships, &c. 
Taking from your provinces their name and po- 
litical existence, he may also abulish that of 
Spain, calling her perhaps Iberia, or Hesperia, 
according to the pedantic whim of his transfor- 
mations, in order that our grand-children may 
not recollect the country, in which their ances- 
tors were born ? 

And do you know whether, as a greater pun- 
ishment, his indignation will not have prepared 
for us another species of mortification and insult ? 
Whether he will not send Godoy to us again, in 
all his pomp and magnificence ? 

Spaniards, be on your guard ! expect neither 
friendship nor humanity from Frenchmen : 
place no confidence in their words, and detest 
their actions. On another occasion as a favor to 
them, I said, that we must read their books, but 
burn to death their authors, for their hearts have 
never been in unison with their lips. Their dis- 
position renders them seditious at home, and their 
policy makes them revolutionary abroad. In no 
condition can they remain quiet, but are always 
engaging in plots and intrigues. An old proverb 
of theirs gives a true description of them : — 
Quand le Frangais dort le diable le berce, (when a 
Frenchman sleeps, the devil rocks the cradle.) 



60 

Is not this the same as telling us, that the devil 
wishes he should not awake, lest he should de- 
prive him of his office ? 

With what philanthropic energy they pro- 
claimed to us, that upon their entrance into Italy, 
they would abolish that vile practice of castrating 
persons trained up to music, being, they said, the 
greatest degradation of the human species. These 
were empty promises of their pompous philoso- 
phy. The humanity of Napoleon wants com- 
plete men, who may propagate slaves for his 
wars, the theatre of his diversions. 

Spaniards, I repeat it, be on your guard ! Do 
not trust to what the French tell you, either 
when they flatter or when they threaten you. 
Their maxims and boastings have been the per- 
dition of the world. When they declared war 
against the Emperor of Russia, they called him 
an inexperienced, pusillanimous Prince, surroun- 
ded by weak counsellors, and heaped upon the 
nation the epithets of barbarous and ferocious 
Scythians, threatening every state of Europe. 
The war is ended ; an alliance concluded, and 
Alexander has already become a young hero, his 
court the centre of refinement, his government 
illustrious, his troops brave, and his nation respec- 
table. As they write upon every subject in a mas- 
terly style, some of their modern military charac- 
ters openly affirm, that fortified towns are use- 
less, according to the modern system of warfare ; 
but in the mean time they guard their own very 
carefully, garrison and fortify those which they 
take, or rather those which their enemies deliver 



61 

up to them. If they are of no use, why did 
they take possession of all those on the Rhine and 
on the frontier of Holland, in order to form an 
impenetrable barrier, round the confines of 
France ? If they are of no use, why did the 
first article, which they exacted from the traitor 
Godoy, require that Pampelona, Figueras, and 
Barcelona should be delivered up to them ? Why 
do they guard them so unremittingly ? These 
hypocrites well know, that if these fortresses had 
not been in their hands, they would not have 
dared to enter into Spain, and that long since, 
Catalonia and Navarre would have been cleared of 
Frenchmen. Would they remain in these two 
provinces without having these places to fall 
back to and recruit ? 

You have seen with indignation, and treated 
with contempt, the treachery of Napoleon, his 
envenomed professions of friendship and pros- 
perity made to us in his proposals, and the exhor- 
tations addressed to us by those whom he has ap- 
pointed to execute his insidious designs. 

Ask France, what prosperity her invincible 
emperor has acquired for her during his reign ? 
What tranquillity and ease families enjoy ? What 
eminence in her arts ? What progress in the 
sciences ? What increase of population ? What 
activity in. the manufactures? What riches in 
her commerce ? and what enlargement in her 
navigation ? She will answer you, that every 
thing is annihilated ; that that flourishing king- 
dom has become a barrack for soldiers, and that 
in her formerly beautiful cities, there reigns only 



. 62 

the rigor of a civil and military despotism. The 
remains of the population, which survived the 
first war, still lament the blood of more than one 
million of victims ; and the shoots which have 
sprouted from the ashes of the immense destruc- 
tion, caused by the axe of the French revolution, 
have grown, and do still grow, to be pulled up 
and transplanted in the bloody and horrid field of 
death. Consider Spaniards what fate awaited 
you, who were the objects of the avarice and 
ambition of this wild monster, when he has sacri- 
ficed to his mad triumphs, those whom he calls 
his children, and for whom he has been exert- 
ing himself, as he says, eight years past ? Truly 
his subjects fight, he alone triumphs, and his 
sluggish connexions enjoy the victory. 

On the other hand, could you doubt the mo- 
deration of the supreme arbiter of your destiny ? 
He told you, I will not reign over your provin- 
ces, I will leave you your religion and preserve 
your independence and the indivisibility of the 
monarchy. Could there exist a more insolent 
conqueror : granting these things to the van- 
quished, by capitulation, or through clemency? 
By this it would seem, that he could prohibit the 
exercise of our religion, make us over or sell us 
to another tyrant, as is his custom, or cut Spain 
into slices. 

One cause, whieh he alleged for coming to re- 
form us, was, that our monarchy was old, that is, 
it was not like the French — what an insulting 
joke ! He came to repair our dilapidated and 
exhausted treasury : and in order to ease her. 



63 

put the small weight of 120,000 armed men, 
upon the lank ribs of the poor old creature. He 
saw our misfortunes he said, and wished to reme- 
dy them, after having caused them, and been an 
accomplice in the villany of our domestic rob- 
ber. He wished to give to Spain, the splendor, 
glory and power which she formerly enjoyed. 
What would become of France and of her concei- 
ted emperor, if we were to recover our former 
strength ? He took compassion on our weak- 
ness, and could not bear to see the decline of a 
neighbour, by his own bad government. It is 
false, thou barefaced villain : it is this dissipa- 
tion, this weak government, which has given 
thee the strength and audacity to come and in- 
sult us. A most ridiculous assertion ; it will 
never again be mentioned in history, that one 
power should exert itself to increase the strength 
and prosperity of its neighbors : since all govern- 
ments for their own preservation or preponder- 
ancy, avail themselves of the weakness, the one 
of the other, and even occasion it, as France 
whilst a republic, and since whilst a monarchy, 
has done with Spain. 

He would not, he says, take the government 
from Godoy, whom he calls, a man without ta- 
lents or morals, lest he should grieve Charles his 
friend and ally : he then treats this friend with 
the greatest insult and treachery, deprives him 
and his first born son and legitimate successor, 
our ever beloved Ferdinand VII. of their crown 
and their liberty. He at the same time patroni- 



64 

ses and protects this wretch whom he before stig- 
matized as inept and immoral. 

As our laws are old, he came to give us new 
ones: This is the last degree of tyranny and hu- 
miliation, which a conquered nation can suffer 
from the conqueror. How great must be the 
presumption and vanity of Napoleon who makes 
himself our legislator before he subdues us ! Let 
the new Constitution of Spain, presented to us by 
his wisdom and beneficence, explain it ; this scan- 
dalous monument of our future slavery. He 
wished us to subscribe blindly to a miserable pam- 
phlet of 34 pages 12mo. in which short space 
was written the eternal destiny of Spain ; as if he 
were making a provisional regulation for a new 
colony of negroes upon a barren island. The 
smallness of the volume forms its principal insult, 
and the brevity of its articles its greatest injury, 
with the most malice. Our patience is very 
great if our indolence is not greater. Among so 
many learned and patriotic men, how happens it 
that no pen has appeared, to crumble, crush and 
pulverize this code of deceptions, snares, perfidies 
and nonsense ? What is contained therein is not 
so bad as what is omitted. In theory, the volume 
is short : but in practice how grievous and weighty. 

If we resist the violence of this unjust invader) 
they call us rebels, because wo are unwilling to be 
slaves : if we make no resistance we are treated as 
such, disarmed, threatened, robbed, and loaded 
with contributions. A musket shot from a village 
is expiated by fire and sword. Tamerlane did 
not issue the decree of death against the towns 



65 

which he laid siege to until the third day. The 
first day he hoisted a white flag, the second a red, 
and the third a black one. He deceived no one: 
the intimation was as clear as it was concise. 

Bonaparte has fought, until now, against armies 
and not against nations. The maxims of particu- 
lar policy which he has formed, do not respect 
those, who fight for their homes, or in their own 
houses. Who has told him that those do not en- 
joy the rights of war, who defend their country or 
their homes with their hands, or with arms ? 
Every peasant becomes a soldier, when he oppo- 
ses those who come to rob him of his property 
and liberty: the want of uniform does not de- 
prive him of this quality, he is a soldier by 
birth. 

Did Napoleon think that penetrating into Spain 
"was the same as traversing Swabia, Saxony, and 
Westphalia, whose peasantry remain asleep whilst 
walking ? Those good people, are accustomed in 
every war, to pass from the yoke of one Sovereign 
to that of another, without preserving a love for 
any. But besides these political causes, what with 
divisions, what with incorporations and transfers 
of vassalage, without the power of calling then- 
country, either the land which they lost on the 
one side, or gained or exchanged on the other ; 
in every state and condition the people were ser- 
vile by habit, and servile by birth. 

We should fear, that the artful Bonaparte, after 
having found that the plan of despotism, which 
he is extending throughout Europe, had succeed- 

T 



66 

ed in France, would come to establish it in Spain. 
This is what he calls regenerating; that is, civi- 
lizing nations after his manner, until they en- 
tirely lose their former character, and the memo- 
ry of their liberty. To make every thing even, 
uniform, simple, and organized, are words very 
flattering to theorists, and particularly so to ty- 
rants. When every thing is smooth and solid, 
and all the parts are confounded into a homogene- 
ous mass, governing is more expeditious, because 
obedience is more expeditious. If a hundred 
balls, all of the same weight and matter, be ar- 
ranged on a plane in the form of a solid sphere, 
by slightly touching the centre ball, they will all 
be moved at the same instant, even to the cir- 
cumference. How easily the despot then rules ! 
The shaking of a finger puts the whole machine, 
however great, into motion ; and by merely 
opening his mouth, or arching his eye-brows, like 
the Jupiter of Homer, the earth shakes, and the 
sons of men tremble. 

Napoleon is this despot, and the French are 
the balls of the sphere. In organized France, 
that is, in fettered France, there is but one law, 
one shepherd and one flock, destined constitution- 
ally to the slaughter. For this reason this shep- 
herd does not meet with any contradiction to his 
whims, nor any obstacles to his wishes. His will 
is the supreme law, to which all others must be 
subservient. Fie can calculate upon the blind 
obedience of more than forty millions of souls, 
who in his eyes form but one. This is an 
event which the Emperor Caligula desired so 



67 

much, but could not obtain ; wishing that the 
the whole Roman people had but one head, that 
he might put them all to death with one blow. 

When the fortunate Bonaparte usurped the 
Consular, and afterwards the Imperial dignity, he 
found every thing already done. He was born 
a giant, and made immediate use of his strength. 
There were no longer in France either clergy, 
nobility, parliaments, or provinces : she main- 
tained both within and without 400,000 veteran 
soldiers, and fifty experienced generals, of whom 
he could make immediate use. He abolished 
every monument commemorative of the repub- 
lic : but whatever could further his designs, that he 
preserved : it was thus with our treaty of alliance, 
which ought no longer to have subsisted, when 
the government and constitution of France were 
changed. But who could make any opposition, 
or where could an appeal lie against this injus- 
tice and violence ; the omnipotent Napoleon be- 
ing both party and judge in this cause, and exe- 
cutioner upon the verdict? 

In France there are neither provinces nor na- 
tions ; their territories and even their names are 
blotted from their maps. Like sheep who have 
no individual name, except the common mark 
of their owner, he has allotted to them certain 
spaces of ground, divided either by streams, 
rivers, or mountains, under the name of depart- 
ments, or pasture grounds, and these divided into 
AxsincXs ox sheep-cots There is no fixed country for 
Frenchmen ; for the country in which they, their 
fathers or their mothers were born, has no indi- 



68 

vidual name. They are born and brought up in 
the fields, and die upon the field of battle. They 
are all culled Frenchmen in a mass, like sheep, 
subject to the crook of the great imperial herds- 
man. It is thus that his throne is secured, with- 
out the dread of insurrection or discontent among 
the provinces, which may one day vie with one 
another, in being the first to hoist the standard of 
impatience, against so heavy a yoke. 

This unity and indivisibility which was then so 
fortunate for the despotic directory, has since 
been still more fortunate for the despotic Bona- 
parte. This is called simplifying, systemizing a 
government, and regenerating a nation, till man 
is degenerated from his first destination, and the 
bands of the natural and social affections rent and 
broken asunder. The unborn fruit of the mo- 
ther's womb, are there destined to be the assassins 
of their fellow-creatures. 

The tyrant did not wish to frighten us, when 
he spoke of regeneration, under which name he 
cloaked the violence of so terrible a transforma- 
tion. One of the brothers has already told us in 
his paternal counsels, of his sincere wishes that 
the nation should not suffer those disasters to which 
the convulsions of the provinces would expose her. 
Be it known to His Imperial and Royal Majesty, 
and to the eloquent expounders of his adorable de- 
crees and pacific sentiments, that the convulsions of 
our provinces have restored them to health, and 
have saved the entire nation. This weak and de- 
spaired of body could not be moved from the pit 
into which he had thrown it, without having some 



of its limbs electrified. Each province has rou- 
sed and has taken off the yoke, in a manner pe- 
culiar to herself. What would already have be- 
come of the Spaniards, were there no Arrago- 
nians, Valentians, Murcians, Andalusians Astu- 
rians, Gallicians, Catalonians, Castillians, &c ? 
Each of these names inflames our anger and our 
pride, and of these small divisions, is composed 
the mass of the great nation, which our wise 
conqueror was unacquainted with, although he 
ever had upon his sideboard an open map of 
Spain. 

Do not forget, my beloved countrymen, that a 
Frenchman is an indescribable animal : he preach - 
es up virtue and has none ; humanity, and he 
knows not what it is; he wishes peace, and he 
seeks for war ; he destroys with one hand, what 
he builds up with the other. A Frenchman pos- 
sesses the vivacity and the docility of the horse, 
who with equal joy and equal patience, permits 
himself to be mounted either by Trajan or Napo- 
leon. 

Oh ! happy are you, ye inhabitants of islands, 
who, surrounded by the sea, do not partake of the 
uneasiness and the horrors of the continent! Oh ! 
Sicilian vigils, so famous in history, when will we 
be able to accompany you, that the angels may 
sing praises in heaven ! Fie had also decreed you 
to slavery. Not satisfied with the land, he wish- 
es to rule over the water, and deprive England of 
her power over the seas, by his vain efforts, call- 
ing her the common enemy, in order to excite the 
indignation of all nations against her, as - if love or 
hatred could be impressed by imperial decrees. 



70 

What would have become of the world, if En- 
gland had not arrested his steps and clipped his 
wings in this element! What invasions of con- 
querors! What descents of bloody pirates from 
pole to pole ! This furious and ill-advised hero 
pretending to crush the power of England, has 
destroyed his own navy, and that of every other 
power. 

Be upon your guard, my loyal and brave 
countrymen ! Do you be sentinels against the 
French, and against those Spaniards, who are 
afraid of them, or do not detest them; for if an 
opportunity should present itself they would as- 
sist them to-morrow. Have you not seen with 
horror and amazement, how they have been ser- 
ved by some, who seeing their country in servi- 
tude and affliction, under the expectations of re- 
ceiving an office, have solicited to be made the 
overseers of our enemies, that they might exer- 
cise some authority over their countrymen? This 
perversity can only be found in the regencies of 
Barbary,where those who order and beat the 
Christian captives, tie them to the oar, and cut 
their arms if they do not row, are the renegadoes, 
who in order to possess some authority over their 
wretched companions, strip themselves of the re- 
ligion of their ancestors, the love of their country 
and every sentiment of shame or humanity. 

Spaniards be on your guard : permit these 
Transpyrenean madmen to call you barbarians, 
provided they acknowledge you to be invincible. 
They complained of our roads and our inns ; 
but would to God they had not been so conve- 



71 

nient for their reception, either in peace or war, 
nor that so many of our youth had been able to 
pass our frontier ! We should have prepared for 
them the inns of Arabia and the roads of moun- 
tain goats ; and instead of spacious turnpikes 
paved with stone, have given them breaks and 
passes cut through rocks, that they might neither 
be able to run their posts, nor move their artillery. 
Civilization is sometimes the death of nations. 
From the time that the Duke of Savoy opened a 
magnificent road, by cutting through immense 
rocks, he ceased to be the porter of Italy. 

Illustrious Spaniards : provinces honored by 
this glorious name, when joined together you 
form the power of Spain, and, confining to one 
object your wishes, you will make the power of 
your nation invincible ; preserve, therefore, your 
union, fraternity and constancy. Every move- 
ment, which leads you from these three points, 
is a breach, which you open to the attack of our 
enemy: this is the only victory which he ex- 
pects, which his arms cannot obtain, and which 
can only be effected by our own hands. The 
crafty Napoleon is not asleep ; be on the watch 
therefore to clear the sacred territory of Spain of 
disloyal subjects, of hypocrites and of persons dis- 
affected to the common cause. Our sovereign is 
a prisoner in France, but our sovereignty is free 
in Spain. His royal palace expects you and 
awaits your arrival, you deputies of the supreme 
union and authority, that those doors may be 
opened, which national sorrow has closed. 

FINIS. 



